Chapter 7 - Africa Flashcards
Savannah
Savannah, a coastal Georgia city, is separated from South Carolina by the Savannah River. It’s known for its manicured parks, horse-drawn carriages and ornate antebellum architecture. Its cobblestoned historic district is filled with squares and parks like Forsyth Park, shaded by magnolia blossoms and oak trees covered with Spanish moss. The historic district’s architectural landmarks include the Gothic-Revival Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist.
Plateau
an area of relatively level high ground.
Sahara Desert
The Sahara is the largest hot desert in the world, and the third largest desert in the world after Antarctica and the Arctic. Its area of 9,200,000 square kilometres is comparable to the area of the United States
Bantu
Bantu peoples is used as a general label for the 300–600 ethnic groups in Africa who speak Bantu languages. They inhabit a geographical area stretching east and southward from Central Africa across the African Great Lakes region down to Southern Africa
Swahili
Swahili, also known as Kiswahili, is a Bantu language and the first language of the Swahili people. It is a lingua franca of the African Great Lakes region and other parts of eastern and southeastern Africa, including Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Subsistence Farming
Subsistence agriculture is self-sufficiency farming in which the farmers focus on growing enough food to feed themselves and their families. The output is mostly for local requirements with little or no surplus for trade.
Mansa Musa
Mansa Musa, fourteenth century emperor of the Mali Empire, is the medieval African ruler most known to the world outside Africa.
Ghana
Ghana, a nation on West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea, is known for diverse wildlife, old forts and secluded beaches, such as at Busua.
Mali
Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali is the eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of just over 1,240,000 square kilometres. The population of Mali is 14.5 million. Its capital is Bamako.
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country in southern Africa known for its dramatic landscape and diverse wildlife, much of it within parks, reserves and safari areas.
Timbuktu
Timbuktu, also spelled as Tinbuktu, Timbuctoo and Timbuktoo, is a historical and still-inhabited city in the West African nation of Mali, situated 20 km north of the River Niger on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert.
Mohammed
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn Abdul-Muttalib ibn Hashim, in short form Muhammad, is considered by Muslims to be the last messenger and prophet sent by God to guide humanity to the right way.
Askia
Askia Muhammad I (ca. 1443 – 1538), born Muhammad Ture or Mohamed Toure in Futa Tooro, later called Askia, also known as Askia the Great, was an emperor, military commander, and political reformer of the Songhai Empire[1] in the late 15th century, the successor of Sunni Ali Ber.
Sonni Ali
Sunni Ali, also known as Sunni Ali Ber, was born Ali Kolon. He reigned from about 1464 to 1492. Sunni Ali was the first king of the Songhai Empire, located in Africa and the 15th ruler of the Sonni dynasty.
Matrilineal
of or based on kinship with the mother or the female line.
Oral Traditions
Oral tradition is information passed down through the generations by word of mouth that is not written down. This includes historical and cultural traditions, literature and law.
Gold and Salt Trade
The gold-salt trade was an exchange of salt for gold between Mediterranean economies and West African countries during the Middle Ages.
Trans-Saharan
Trans Saharan Trade requires travel across the Sahara (north and south) to reach sub-Saharan Africa from the North African coast, Europe, to the Levant. While existing from prehistoric times, the peak of trade extended from the 8th century until the early 17th century
Sub-Saharan
Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara desert. According to the UN, it consists of all African countries that are fully or partially located south of the Sahara.
Songhai
The Songhai Empire was a state that dominated the western Sahel in the 15th and 16th century. At its peak it was one of the largest states in African history.
Griot
a member of a class of traveling poets, musicians, and storytellers who maintain a tradition of oral history in parts of West Africa.
Diviner
a person who uses special powers to predict future events.
Lineage
lineal descent from an ancestor; ancestry or pedigree.
Ibn Batuta
Ibn Baṭūṭah, or simply Muhammad Ibn Battuta, was a Medieval Moroccan Muslim traveler and scholar, who is widely recognised as one of the greatest travelers of all time.
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world’s oceanic divisions, covering 70,560,000 km2 (27,240,000 sq mi) (approximately 20% of the water on the Earth’s surface).
Sahel
The Sahel is the ecoclimatic and biogeographic zone of transition in Africa between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian Savanna to the south.